For the Love of Lacey

Xavier and Hildie

We all look at him, none more startled than me.

"I've been on this path for a long time. Much longer than most of you. I loved Hildie with all my being, and when she was taken from me it near destroyed me. When we came back here it was so I could try to reconnect with her in some way. These last hundred and fifty plus years have been torture for me. I came back here hoping to find that part of myself that died with her." He looks at me and laughs, "Then I met a feisty young girl who started my heart wanting to beat again." He looks back down, "and I fell for her like I had for Hildie. I'm feeling things I haven't felt in a very long time. So, I've always intended this to be my last stop." Now he looks at his friends.

"I just hoped it could have lasted a little longer than this. I want you all to get out of here and promise that you'll never come back. I need to know that you'll leave Lacey and her friends and family alone. None of this is their fault. I want this. I want this end." He sighs, "five hundred years is a lot of living, and I'm tired of all of it."

Dante and the girls look at each other and finally Si Am gets up, walks over to Xavier and bends to hug him. He stands up and hugs her tightly, looking deep into her eyes for a few moments before letting her go, only to have Amelia take her place. Even Dante throws his arms around Xavier and hugs him close. They all wak away, leaving only Xavier and myself.

He looks at me. "We can't stay here in this house, I'm sure your young deputy will be on his way back by now with back-up. Come, let's go to that cave that hid my friends and me so many years ago." He holds out his hand and I hesitate only a minute before taking it.

We walk out the back door and into the woods. I hear the sound of an engine roaring to life and look back to see the black SUV that they had come in pulling out onto the road. We walk in silence for another hour or so before heading toward the river.

It's a good thing Xavier knows where we're going, because the entrance is truly impossible to see, especially in the dark. We hunch over and walk to the back of the cave where it finally opens up and we're able to stand upright again. Xavier lets go of my hand and I hear the scratch of a match and then there's light.

"When we first arrived back here I came down often and sat, thinking about Hildie."

I sit on the ground with my back against a boulder and let him talk.

"She was a beautiful, wonderful person. She brought out the best in me...things I thought had died with me in 1582. I wanted to live again, be a better person just to see a smile on her face." He looks at me with a grin.

"When she died of the infection from that rock I wanted to come back here and tear this place apart with my bare hands!" He balls his hands into fists, "But I knew Hildie never would have stood for that. I let go of everything; blocked out all the good feelings she'd stirred in me, and turned my back on life. Dante, Amelia and Si Am stayed with me, trying to get me to snap out of it. We traveled around a lot and killed a lot and lived from day-to-day. We went overseas and wandered there for a while."

He looks at me, "I finally realized that I wasn't in pain from missing her so much any more and was just living my life in a limbo of sorts. We started settling in places and building a life again, like we did before Hildie. We can only ever stay for a few short years, but it can be nice to interact with people, so it was good. But I was still haunted by my Hildie, and the love I had with her."

He comes over and sits next to me, taking my hand," We came back here and I fully intended to stay for a few years and get my life together before ending it all. Then I met you that first night." He looks at me. "I recognized something in your eyes and my chest felt full. It felt like I had a heart again."